BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption and Sales Information

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) protects, manages, and controls wild horses and burros under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. As an agency that administers the public lands for multiple uses, the BLM works to ensure that herd populations across 10 Western states are in balance with rangeland resources and other uses of the public lands.

Herd Management Area in Wyoming. Photo protected by U.S. copyright law and may not be produced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast without the prior written permission of Bryan Wagner .

To achieve this balance, the BLM must remove thousands of mustangs and burros from the range each

Herd Management Area in Wyoming. Photo protected by U.S. copyright law and may not be produced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast without the prior written permission of Bryan Wagner .

year to control the size of herds, which have virtually no predators and can double in population every four years. The estimated free-roaming population of wild horses and burros on BLM-managed lands (as of Feb. 29, 2012) is approximately 37,300, which exceeds by nearly 11,000 the number determined to be the appropriate management level. Off the range (as of April 2012), more than 47,000 other wild horses and burros are being cared for in short-term corrals and long-term pastures. All animals in short- or long-term holding are protected by the BLM under the 1971 law.

After wild horses and burros are removed from the range, the BLM works to place as many animals as possible into private care through adoption or sales. Since 1971, the BLM has placed more than 225,000 wild horses and burros into private ownership through adoption, a process in which a citizen may receive the title of ownership to an animal after one year (with a limit of four titles per year, regardless of the number adopted). Under a December 2004 amendment to the 1971 wild horse law, animals over 10 years old – as well as younger ones that have been passed over for adoption at least three times – are eligible for sale, a transaction in which the title of ownership passes immediately from the Federal government to the buyer. Since that amendment took effect, the BLM has sold more than 5,300 wild horses and burros. (The BLM has not been selling any wild horses to slaughterhouses or to "killer buyers.") Proceeds from the sale of eligible animals are used for the BLM's wild horse and burro adoption program, as directed by Congress under the sale-authority amendment.

Ford Motor Company and Take Pride in America established the Save the Mustangs Fund to support the BLM in its efforts to place sale-eligible animals in good homes. The BLM is committed to the well-being of wild horses and burros, both on and off the range. With the support from Ford and Take Pride in America, the BLM will be able to carry out the will of Congress while finding good homes for wild horses and burros, which are a treasured symbol of the Western spirit and an icon of American freedom.

If you are interested in buying a wild horse or burro for long-term care, please complete the sale questions document and send it to wildhorse@blm.gov or fax to (202) 653-9084. Here is a sample bill of sale that you will receive once you have purchased the animal(s). Please review the clauses in the bill of sale. If you have questions regarding the sales program, please e-mail wildhorse@blm.gov.